[Congressional Bills 104th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1810 Introduced in House (IH)]

  1st Session
                                H. R. 1810

To amend title 18, United States Code, to provide for the privatization 
         of health care services in the Federal prison system.


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                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              June 8, 1995

 Mr. Zimmer (for himself and Mr. Klug) introduced the following bill; 
          which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

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                                 A BILL


 
To amend title 18, United States Code, to provide for the privatization 
         of health care services in the Federal prison system.
    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Federal Prison Health Services 
Privatization Act of 1995''.

SEC. 2. PRIVATIZATION OF HEALTH CARE SERVICES IN THE FEDERAL PRISON 
              SYSTEM.

    (a) In General.--Section 4005 of title 18, United States Code, is 
amended to read as follows:
``Sec. 4005. Medical relief; expenses
    ``(a) The Attorney General shall provide for necessary medical care 
for prisoners in Federal penal and correctional institutions through 
contracts with non-governmental entities specializing in prison health 
services or correctional managed health care.
    ``(b) In order to discourage unnecessary diversion of health care 
resources to those not truly in need of them, the Attorney General 
shall by rule establish a system of requiring, to the extent 
practicable, copayments by prisoners within those institutions for 
health care provided to them. The rules made under this subsection may 
provide for the deduction of such copayments from commissary accounts 
or other similar credits given to prisoners for work, and may allow 
advances against such credits for the purposes of paying the copayment. 
Such copayments shall be paid only after the prisoner has received 
essential medical care, and no prisoner shall be denied essential 
medical care because of the inability to pay such a copayment.''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendment made by this section shall take 
effect one year after the date of the enactment of this section.
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